00 ItMa 2011 (exclusive Feature) - Textile Magazine

itMA 2011 [exclusive feature]
becoming increasingly important
day by day.
Picanol has always been a pioneer
when it comes to integrating the different
machine functions and realtime
applications and controlling
them centrally. But with market requirements
pressing for further development,
the company decided to
develop an entirely new electronic
platform. The Picanol BlueBox is
much more than an upgrade of the
existing electronic platform.
Using the latest microprocessor
technology, Picanol BlueBox
increases calculation speeds by a
factor of 10, and the larger internal
memory makes it possible to store
much more data, creating new opportunities
for support and affording
practically unlimited weaving patterns.
Picanol BlueBox is designed to
74 | ThE TEXTILE MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2011
fully exploit the possibilities of remote
service: when it is connected
to the Internet, the company specialists
around the world can look right
into the heart of the system. For machines
that are not directly connected
to the Internet, the Customer System
File (CSF) can be downloaded
onto a USB stick and sent to Picanol
by e-mail. This file contains all the
data needed by Picanol to analyze
a particular situation and advise the
customer on the action to be taken.
Picanol BlueBox has only a few
types of printed circuit board, covering
all the main functions and options
in a modular way. The actual
number of PCBs will depend on the
features installed on the machine,
but covering many functions with
just a few PCBs significantly reduces
the inventory of spare parts that
users need to hold.
Robust and future-proof
To ensure maximum long-term
reliability, Picanol BlueBox is designed
to operate under the toughest
conditions. To give a few examples:
it can handle weaving room temperatures
of up to 40°C. It is 100 per
cent short-circuit protected, and inserting
PCBs in the wrong position
will not cause any damage.
In other words, user-friendliness
and robustness are built into the
system. Every component of the
system, be it hardware or software,
is tested to the limit before being
approved for use on the weaving
machine. Moreover, state-of-the-art
driver technology enables the system
to detect potential anomalies at
a very early stage and indicate their
location to the user.
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